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Topic: Tanging works! Sort of : / (Read 979 times)

So, Mikel and I were working in the yard on Saturday when a friend who stopped by says, "What are your bees doing?" We turn around and sure enough - swarming! While it was very cool to watch, sooo many bees in the air, it was very frustrating. We immediately starting tanging, and sure enough they landed pretty quick and in a tree only about 10 yards distant . . . but 100 feet up! :shock:

This was Hive Number Two that was sooo tiny a few weeks ago. Evidently they DID have a queen and evidently she was quite productive. This is the biggest swarm I've ever seen. It has to be 2 feet long and it's thick - I would guess between 6-8 lbs though I'm not experienced and suck at volumes. It is seriously HUGE. And still there! It hasn't moved as of this morning. We've set boxes all over our and our neighbors back yards with lemon grass and comb and have our fingers crossed, but I am not hopeful. I just hope they move into a tree and not a house! Mikel keeps asking me how long they will stay there, so -

How long will a swarm hang out in a tree? I thought they only had like 3 days of supplies?

I took 2 little splits/nucs out of Hive Number One subsequently. They were full of queen cells. I tried to find the queen to simulate a swarm, but couldn't for the life of me find her. So I pulled a few of the frames with queen cells and some other frames to create 2 nucs and left a few queen cells and am hoping for the best. I'm hoping I put enough bees in with the nucs. Is 3 frames full of bees enough? I'm thinking maybe I should shake some more into them.

Sigh, I seriously thought with the cold and rain they needed more time to build up, but once again, they shocked me with the speed and caught me off guard. Maybe I'll get the timing right next year :(. I'm definitely going to start taking the time off work to work the bees when they need it, instead of trying to work them only when the weather is right on the weekends. They just don't wait!

Anyway, I am a frustrated and sad beekeeper feeling like a bee-haver today :(.

As always, sweet little ziffa worries too much. If you don't get them this year, they may throw a swarm next year that lands in one of your traps.

Either way, they will do as bees do, and will still be around when we are gone.

Now relax and enjoy them.

A swarm will stay in a bunch until the scouts find a place to go. If they don't find a place, they will build comb there.

Three frames should be fine in Ga. this time of year. Check them in 2 weeks and decide then if they need a frame of brood as a boost.

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ziffa,I'm in a similar situation, have one about 40 feet up in a tree that landed there yesterday. They're showing some interest in one of my swarm traps so I'm cautiously optimistic. :)

Any activity around any of your swarms traps?

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What about throwing a line over a limb that is near the swarm and hoisting a hive box up there to tempt them with?

Ed

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What about throwing a line over a limb that is near the swarm and hoisting a hive box up there to tempt them with?

Ed

Thats what I was thinking. Jp actually shot a video of him doing the exact same thing. He had to do it several time. He took a lock tied to the end of a rope and threw it, or lobbed it up there. I am sure it may take a few time to get it aroud the right limb. I ain't trying to step on your toes or steal your thunder JP, just don't want ziffa to loose her bees if she could try this. So I wanted to let her know what I saw you do. Here is his video of him doing it. Honey Bee Swarm With Virgin QueenHope this helps.James

Liz, send the hippy up the tree! I can hear it now..." if you really love me you'll be my champion and climb that tree...here's a box. Oh, and don't bother coming down if you don't have my bees!".

Scott :evil:

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Well, they were gone when we got home today. :(. Instheswamp and Jim - that is actually what mikel was going to try this evening when he got home! I wish we had thought of it on sunday. I still don't know if he could have gotten it high enough and around the right limb.

Scott - I actually had to talk him out of it! He was all ready to climb up and try to cut the limb off and lower it down! I told him NO WAY, he would break his neck! This thing was at least 3 stories high! lol

Moots - being in the city, I haven't really put up any swarm traps. But I guess i'll be starting. I hadn't really thought about trapping my own swarms. :) Learning learning all the time. Sounds like you have been getting lots of swarms near the ground too, though! Congrats!

Oh well. Iddee as usual you are right, i obsess! I will focus on the nucs. Though you can bet I'll be keeping my eyes peeled when I walk around the neighborhood!

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. You guys always make me feel better!

Just a note hear about getting a line up high... Take your trusty rod-n-reel (it's actually nice to use an old reel so you don't mess up your good fishing line) and tie an ounce or two of lead weight on the end of the line. Cast up and over a limb (yeah, I know, it goes against all modern day thinking!) and let gravity bring the lead back to the ground...it will probably take a few tries, you might have to add a little weight, you may have to break off and try again (watch for falling lead!!!), you'll probably have to feed line out and "encourage" the line to feed over and through the limbs and leaves. Once the lead weight is in reach tie a nylon cord to the end of the fishing line and reel the cord back up and over and down to you. Now tie a heavier cord to the nylon cord and pull this back over the limb by pulling the other end of the nylon cord...it's kind of a seesaw process of pulling progressively heavier lines over the limb. You can keep repeating this sequence until you have a rope big enough to hang your trap from.

It's a lot easier than trying to throw crescent wrench tied to a string 50-100 feet straight over your head. ;) I've hoisted many a ham radio wire antenna like this.

ziffa, sorry you missed that swarm, hang in there.

Best wishes,Ed

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www.beeweather.comAmerican blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world. 320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror". Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA. But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

Well, they were gone when we got home today. :(. Instheswamp and Jim - that is actually what mikel was going to try this evening when he got home! I wish we had thought of it on sunday. I still don't know if he could have gotten it high enough and around the right limb.

Scott - I actually had to talk him out of it! He was all ready to climb up and try to cut the limb off and lower it down! I told him NO WAY, he would break his neck! This thing was at least 3 stories high! lol

Moots - being in the city, I haven't really put up any swarm traps. But I guess i'll be starting. I hadn't really thought about trapping my own swarms. :) Learning learning all the time. Sounds like you have been getting lots of swarms near the ground too, though! Congrats!

Oh well. Iddee as usual you are right, i obsess! I will focus on the nucs. Though you can bet I'll be keeping my eyes peeled when I walk around the neighborhood!

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. You guys always make me feel better!

love,ziffa

You can buy bees cheaper then you can pay hospital bills for a broken bone from falling out of a tree.